The present invention relates to a method of producing a powder containing beneficial phytochemicals present in harvested Echinacea plant material, and more particularly to a method of producing a powder recovering an increased amount of the cichoric acid present in the harvested Echinacea plant material.
Echinacea plant is a popular herbal immunostimulant. Echinacea contains numerous active phytochemicals--such as caffeic acid derivatives (e.g., cichoric acid), alkamides (e.g., dodecatetraenoic acid isobutylamides), and glycoproteins/polysaccharides--that have immunomodulatory or other beneficial activity. Although cichoric acid is a particularly beneficial immunostimulant, it is advantageous to consume the full range of the phytochemicals present in Echinacea in order to gain the synergistically beneficial effect. The elimination of any one class of constituents could reduce this beneficial effect.
Accordingly, many people consume the freshly expressed juice of the Echinacea plant, which inherently contains the full spectrum of phytochemicals normally present in the Echinacea plant. For example, Europeans have consumed the freshly expressed juice of Echinacea, provided in vials or ampules, for many years. Representative of this type of product is the expressed juice of the flowering Echinacea purpurea plant harvested about 8 inches (20.3 cm) above the ground; this product has been sold since 1939 by Madaus Aktiengesellschaft under the ECHINACIN mark.
One drawback to Echinacea juice is that water is a major component. Water is a constituent lacking phytochemical activity. Yet water significantly increases the weight and volume of the Echinacea product--needlessly increasing the handling and shipping costs. Also, fresh Echinacea juice is not useable in dry, powdered dietary supplements.
Another drawback to Echinacea juice is that the water in the fresh juice provides an environment in which undesirable microbiological or enzymatic activity occurs. For example, R. Bauer reports that the content of cichoric acid varies dramatically from 0 to 0.4% in the expressed juice, in part from the inconsistent inhibition of the enzymatic degradation of cichoric acid in the freshly expressed juice. (Bauer, "HPLC-Method on the Basis of Cichoric Acid and Alkamides for the Standardization of Echinacea Purpurea Preparations Prepared from the Expressed Juice," Zeitschrift fur Phytotherapie 18/5, p. 270-276 (1997).) Therefore, in providing fresh juice, the manufacturer must either recommend relatively immediate consumption or otherwise treat the juice to reduce spoilage and enzymatic activity. One method of reducing the spoilage is to add alcohol to stabilize the juice. However, the alcohol may precipitate some beneficially active components of the juice, such as the polysaccharides. Alcohol also renders the product questionable for use with children.
Manufacturers have provided Echinacea extracts in powdered form to address the above-noted problems. However, many methods of producing the Echinacea powder--such as alcohol extraction followed by spray drying--may eliminate or damage many of the beneficial phytochemicals in the Echinacea juice and thus reduce the recovery of desired components such as cichoric acid. Accordingly, the amount of cichoric acid recovered in commercially available Echinacea extracts has been unacceptably low. Although Ital Nutritional, Inc. has supplied Echinacea juice in dried powder form having either 2.2% or 3.0% of total caffeic derivatives (e.g., cichoric acid, caeffoyl tartaric acid, caeffoyl quinic acid, and chlorogenic acid) as measured by the HPLC method, the process for converting the fresh Echinacea plant material to dried juice powder is relatively inefficient, about a 45:1 ratio for plant material feed to powdered final product.